Vol. 568 No. 1
755 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if he has satisfied himself that he will have sufficient funding to allow his Department to draw down funds which are available as a result of the Good Friday Agreement for cross-Border purposes and for the Border counties for 2003 and the next number of years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16077/03]
My Department has an allocation of €13.8 million for 2003 for the cross-Border aspects of the Leader programme and the cross-Border programmes, PEACE and INTERREG III. These programmes, which are co-funded with the EU, will run to 2006 with the bulk of expenditure expected in the second half of the programmes, i.e. 2004 to 2006. I am satisfied the 2003 allocations are sufficient to meet this year's commitments and within the framework of the annual Estimates process. Every effort will be made to secure sufficient matching funding for the remaining years of these programmes.
